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Hoodi_baba
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GMAT Ninja 13-Week Study Plan (Focus ed.) Week 1: Start Here 16 Nov 2024, 21:47
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Hi, @GMATNinja. Firstly, thank you for this fantastic study plan. When you say LSAT online subscription, do you mean the LawHub for $120/year on the LSAC website (sorry I cannot post URLs yet)

And would you happen to know if this contains answer explanations or is that only available in the The Official LSAT SuperPrep?

Thanks.
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GMAT Ninja 13-Week Study Plan (Focus ed.) Week 1: Start Here 17 Nov 2024, 08:09
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Hi, I have the official guide and the official Quant review. In pt6 for quant you have mentioned "Official Guide #1-25". But I am not sure what that means? Is it 25 questions from the Quantitative reasoning practice questions?
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GMAT Ninja 13-Week Study Plan (Focus ed.) Week 1: Start Here 17 Nov 2024, 18:52
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Not yet received the weekly plan
bb
Thank you Charles!

FYI everyone - the intro video is coming out in the next hour.

The email subscription will be activated in a few minutes, though I recommend waiting a bit until the video comes out.

Thank you!
BB
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GMAT Ninja 13-Week Study Plan (Focus ed.) Week 1: Start Here 18 Nov 2024, 14:21
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Gmat ninja can we access all the weeks now? if not can you tell us how to tweak the previous study plan for the new one plzzzzzzzz
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GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51
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GRE 2: Q170 V170
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GMAT Ninja 13-Week Study Plan (Focus ed.) Week 1: Start Here 20 Nov 2024, 14:00
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kiasha
Gmat ninja can we access all the weeks now? if not can you tell us how to tweak the previous study plan for the new one plzzzzzzzz
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Sorry, we'll release one each week. If you want to use the old plan instead, you can skip the geometry, and replace SC with DI if you'd like.

Keep in mind that the study plan is designed for steady, consistent progress over 13 weeks. If you try to race ahead or "binge" multiple weeks at a time, it will inevitably be less effective.

hari0616
Hi, I have the official guide and the official Quant review. In pt6 for quant you have mentioned "Official Guide #1-25". But I am not sure what that means? Is it 25 questions from the Quantitative reasoning practice questions?
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The Official Guide is this book. The Problem Solving questions in the Official Guide are numbered from 1-271 in the 2024-25 edition. So when we say #1-25, we're referring to the question numbers in the book. When the assignment is from the Official Guide Quantitative Review (this skinnier book), we'll refer to it as the "Quant Guide" -- the question numbering system is similar to the Official Guide.

Hoodi_baba
Hi, @GMATNinja. Firstly, thank you for this fantastic study plan. When you say LSAT online subscription, do you mean the LawHub for $120/year on the LSAC website (sorry I cannot post URLs yet)

And would you happen to know if this contains answer explanations or is that only available in the The Official LSAT SuperPrep?

Thanks.
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Yes, if you want an LSAT online subscription, you'll have to get it through LawHub: https://www.lawhub.org/. If I'm not mistaken, a few tests are available there for free, but if you want more, you'll need a subscription. Last time I checked, LawHub did not include explanations for most of the tests.

I hope that helps a bit!
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GMAT Ninja 13-Week Study Plan (Focus ed.) Week 1: Start Here 21 Nov 2024, 00:31
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Can we have sources for LSAT questions, or can we use verbal OG ?
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GMAT Ninja 13-Week Study Plan (Focus ed.) Week 1: Start Here 24 Nov 2024, 04:41
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Can i use 2023-2024 official guide book?
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GMAT Ninja 13-Week Study Plan (Focus ed.) Week 1: Start Here 26 Nov 2024, 09:32
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saiswaroopgrandhi
Can we have sources for LSAT questions, or can we use verbal OG ?
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This is addressed in detail here.

Zonna
Can i use 2023-2024 official guide book?
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Yup, that's totally fine! The 2024-25 OGs have a few more questions, including a nice handful of non-math-based DS questions -- but it's really not a huge difference. Throughout the study plan, we'll refer to the 2024-25 editions (at least until the next editions are released), but everything will work perfectly well if you're using the previous editions.

Enjoy!
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GMAT Ninja 13-Week Study Plan (Focus ed.) Week 1: Start Here 30 Nov 2024, 01:45
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Hello,

Thank you for this amazing job you're doing ! I don't know if it's only me but the link for generating equations does not work for me. I tried with different navigator but still no :( by any chance do you have another one ? Thank you for your time ! :)
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GMAT Ninja 13-Week Study Plan (Focus ed.) Week 1: Start Here 30 Nov 2024, 08:22
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GMATNinja bb Bunuel pls help me in interpreting my week1 CR results, i did 25 Lsat of sub-505 got 96%, then did 25 Lsat of 505-555 got 84% and then did 20 old OG of 555-605 got 45%. In old OG of 555-605 i was not able the able to understand them. So how should i improve ?
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GMAT Ninja 13-Week Study Plan (Focus ed.) Week 1: Start Here 05 Dec 2024, 03:37
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Thanks for sharing the plan. How do I filter the questions to get a unique set of question variety?
For e.g. for the below link,
5. A set of 25 sub-555 algebra problem-solving questions, available here. Yes, they’re easy. That’s exactly the point – please don’t make any sloppy mistakes!
when I click the link, I get multiple pages of ~50 questions each. Please advise.
GMATNinja
GMAT Ninja’s 13-Week Study Plan
Updated for the new GMAT in 2024

Subscribe via E-mail | Study Plan Chat Group

Week 1 (~15 hours)

Welcome to our “one-size-fits-most”, 13-week GMAT study plan, based on our decades of experience as GMAT tutors. (Yes, decades. Charles is old.)

Here’s what you’re getting yourself into:

  • Bad news: no study plan fits everybody perfectly. We’ve designed this one with a reasonably typical GMAT Club member in mind: a test-taker scoring somewhere in the high 400s or 500s, with aspirations of a 600+ and weaknesses on quant, verbal, and DI. If you’re in a different situation, you’ll need to alter the plan to suit your needs.
  • We expect you to spend approximately 15 hours per week studying for the GMAT: roughly 2 hours per weekday, and maybe a bit more on the weekends.
  • Our goal is to help you beat the odds. The average GMAT student improves by less than 30 points when re-taking the exam, according to GMAC data. So be prepared for some serious work.

We’ll repeat that last part: be ready to work HARD. If you're not dedicated to your GMAT studies, this isn't for you.

Ready to get started? Buckle up.

Watch this video first!


Here’s a video that explains what the study plan is and – more importantly – how best to use it. You’ll save a ton of time in the long run if you watch the video BEFORE getting started.

So please don’t skip this!



- What You’ll Need
Resources you’ll need before starting the study plan:


Here are additional practice resources you’ll eventually want to purchase, but they can wait until later in the process:


If you’ve already exhausted the official guides, you’re in a tough spot for Data Insights, unfortunately – pretty much every official DI question is already included in the study plan. However, you could use older editions for quant and verbal – OG 12 and the 2nd edition of the quant and verbal guides would be decent options, but you’ll want to skip the geometry. If you have questions, feel free to ask in the thread, and we’ll do our best to help.


(A) Where Do You Stand? (0-4 hrs.)+

1. If you have NOT taken the GMAT or any official practice tests: take mba.com test #1

  • The goal: establish a baseline score so that you know how far you are from your target.
  • When you’re finished, please don’t review or redo individual questions, since you might want to retake this exam in a month or two, and it’s best if you don’t remember the questions well.
  • It is, however, OK to take a broad look at your struggles. Did you miss far more questions of one type than another? Are you significantly farther from your score goal on one section than the other?
  • For more, please read the 2nd post in this thread.

2. If you’ve taken an actual GMAT exam, please make sure you understand what your score report is telling you.
  • Check out this article to help you analyze your GMAT score report.

If you’ve never taken the GMAT -- or you don’t have a detailed score report from an attempt at the old GMAT -- no problem. Just skip this task, and everything will be fine.

3. Figure out how many points you’d like to gain on the quant, verbal, and DI sections.

  • If you need to gain FAR more points on one section than the others, use that information to guide your studies. If you’re weaker at verbal, please do less quant and DI homework, and spend more time on “optional” verbal assignments and videos. If you’re weaker in quant or DI, you’ll want to focus on those sections.
  • Keep in mind that all three sections are weighted equally in determining your composite GMAT score. For more details, check out this one-minute video on why 3 = 20 in the GMAT scoring system.

That’s it. If you’ve recently taken official practice (or actual) tests and you understand how far you are from your goals, that’s great – just move on to the homework.
(B) Quant (~3-6 hrs.)+

You’re probably going to hate this.

We have only two goals on quant in Week 1:


1. Ensure that you NEVER make sloppy errors.
2. Check on your arithmetic and algebra foundations.

Here’s why:


1. On an adaptive test like the GMAT, careless errors can DESTROY your score. To learn why, check out this video on GMAT time management (6 mins.) or this one on score-killing errors (59 mins.). These videos were made for the old, pre-2024 version of the GMAT, but the punchlines are still spot-on.
2. If you’re unhappy with your quant (or DI) score, you’re probably making careless errors. And you probably don’t pay enough attention to them.
3. Arithmetic and/or algebra are embedded in nearly every quant (and quant-based DI) question, and if those fundamentals are shaky, you’ll be in trouble.

I know: this isn’t sexy. You probably won’t enjoy this. But if you perform well, the homework will get more interesting next week.

How to approach quant homework


1. Time each set, but don’t rush through. Do every set with test-like intensity, but don’t impose an artificial time limit -- at least not yet.
2. When you’re finished, please do NOT review your errors at all just yet. On the day you do the homework, just input the results into your error log, and walk away. (We’ll say more below about how and when to redo the questions you missed.)

Week 1 quant homework


By design, these practice sets are mostly short, and they should FEEL easy. So you shouldn’t make any mistakes at all, right? Um... right?


1. Watch this video (34 minutes) on how to approach GMAT quant and data sufficiency.
2. (Optional, but recommended) Videos: how to get better at studying for GMAT quant (8 mins) | GMAT arithmetic (49 mins) | GMAT algebra (70+ mins)
3. (Optional, but recommended) Do a set of 10 general systems of linear equations, which you can generate here. If you’re not efficiently getting 100% of them right (in less than 15 minutes per set of 10), keep doing sets of 10 until you can ace them.
4. (Optional, but also highly recommended) If you’re rusty on quadratics factoring, solve this set of 10 basic quadratic equations. If you need more practice, you can generate more worksheets here; select as many "Quadratics --> simple factorable" exercises as you need.
5. A set of 25 sub-555 algebra problem-solving questions, available here. Yes, they’re easy. That’s exactly the point – please don’t make any sloppy mistakes!
6. Official Guide Problem Solving #1-25
7. A set of 25 sub-555 arithmetic PS questions, available here
8. (Very, very optional) Quant section only from the GMAT Club tests or another NON-official source (save the remaining mba.com exams for later!)

What to do AFTER completing a quant homework set

  • 1-3 days after completing the set, redo your errors from scratch. Do your best to “wash your brains” and pretend that you’ve never seen the questions before.
  • If you get most of the questions RIGHT the second time: you’re probably making careless errors, and fixing them needs to be your #1 area of focus. See below for some videos that might help.
  • If you miss a question twice, don’t overreact. Obsessively studying individual questions drains a TON of your study time – if you miss a particular question, you’ll probably never see anything quite like it again. So focus on GENERAL takeaways on how to improve -- don’t spend hours memorizing steps for individual questions.
  • For more on how to interpret your results, see the next post in this thread.

Need help with quant?

If you make careless errors or struggle on the content this week, these resources might help:


1. If you’re making careless errors, this video on how to approach GMAT quant (also in the Week 1 quant homework list) is essential viewing.
2. If you’re struggling with the fundamental content this week, check out this GMAT arithmetic video or this algebra video.
3. GMAT Club Math Book: full pdf | algebra section
4. Heroic quant threads from Bunuel: Ultimate GMAT Quant Megathread | Signature Question Collection | All You Need for Quant
(C) Reading Comprehension (~2 hrs.)+

In Week 1, your goal is to develop a consistent, repeatable approach to GMAT RC questions. We’ll start with a video and article to help you understand how to approach RC passages, and then give you some nice long, hard RC sets so that you can put our advice into practice.

How to approach RC homework


1. Time each set, but don’t rush through. Do every set with test-like intensity, but don’t impose an artificial time limit -- at least not yet.
2. When you’re finished, please do NOT review your errors at all just yet. On the day you do the homework, just input the results into your error log, and walk away.

Week 1 RC homework



1. Watch this video on the fundamentals of RC or read this beginner’s guide to RC, which covers the same principles. (~ 1 hr.)
2. Do a full LSAT RC set (~25 questions, ~ 1 hr). Click here to learn why we assign LSAT sets for GMAT students.
3. (Optional, but recommended) One more LSAT RC set
4. (Optional) Do 3-4 RC passages from older editions of the OGs; you can find some from OG 12 and the Verbal 2nd edition here.

What to do AFTER completing an RC homework set

  • Don’t obsess over the questions you missed. You’re never going to see these passages again, and you don’t want to waste too much time reviewing them.
  • Instead, focus on general patterns. Did you miss a bunch of primary purpose questions? Inference questions? Did you get intimidated by certain types of passages? Did you panic? Run out of energy? Pay special attention to errors that surprised you – did you somehow make a silly mistake?
  • If you missed three or more questions on a particular passage, you might consider redoing the entire passage from scratch. If you do better the second time, ask yourself: what should you have done differently the first time?
  • For more on how to interpret your RC results, check out the 2nd post in this thread.

Need help with RC?

If you struggled with your RC homework sets this week, here are some resources that might help:
(D) Critical Reasoning (~2 hrs.)+

If you read the RC section above, this is going to sound very, very familiar.

In Week 1, your goal is to develop a consistent, repeatable approach to GMAT CR questions. We’ll start with a video and article, and follow that with some HARD practice. Enjoy!

How to approach CR homework


1. Time each set, but don’t rush through. Do every set with test-like intensity, but don’t impose an artificial time limit -- at least not yet.
2. When you’re finished, please do NOT review your errors at all just yet. On the day you do the homework, just input the results into your error log, and walk away.

Week 1 CR homework



1. Watch this video on how to approach CR or read this beginner’s guide to CR, which covers the same ideas. (~ 1 hr.)
2. Do a full LSAT CR set (~25 questions, ~ 1 hr). Click here to learn why we assign LSAT sets for GMAT students.
3. (Optional, but recommended) One additional LSAT CR set (~25 questions, ~ 1 hr)
4. (Very optional) Do 15-20 CR from older editions of the OGs; you can find some from OG 12 and the Verbal 2nd edition here.

What to do AFTER completing a CR homework set

  • 1-3 days after completing the set, redo your errors from scratch. Do your best to “wash your brains” and pretend that you’ve never seen the questions before.
  • If you get most of the questions RIGHT the second time, that’s a sign that your overall CR process isn’t nearly as consistent as it needs to be, and fixing your process needs to be your #1 area of focus. See below for some videos that might help.
  • If you miss a question a second time, don’t overreact: obsessively studying individual questions drains a TON of your study time – and it isn’t terribly valuable on CR. So don’t spend hours memorizing the steps for individual questions.
  • For more on how to interpret your CR results, see the 2nd post in this thread.

Need help with CR?

If you struggled with your CR homework sets this week, here are some resources that might help:
(E) Data Insights (0 hrs.)+

No DI for you this week!

We know: ignoring DI just doesn’t feel quite right. But there’s a very limited supply of worthwhile DI practice questions. So you’re better off saving those DI questions for later, so that you can hit your peak at the right time.

Don’t worry: by the time you finish the 13-week study plan, you’ll have completed every official DI question in the most recent OG and DI Guide, along with a fistful of videos and well over 100 additional, official DI questions from practice tests.

In other words, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to suffer. Er, practice.
(F) Inspiration (optional)+

Read this debrief by a charming Aussie who studied for more than 2,272 hours, or watch this YouTube interview with the same dude.



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RitabrataSarkar
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GMAT Ninja 13-Week Study Plan (Focus ed.) Week 1: Start Here 09 Dec 2024, 21:06
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GMATNinja
Piqueee
I just ordered LSAT books off Amazon. However, I am a bit confused by what an LSAT 'Set' is? Is a set a compilation of 25 questions in the book? Is it already categorized like that within the LSAT books?

I was solving LSAT questions through GMATCLUB and a lot of them were 805+ difficulty questions. So I wasn't able to pinpoint my weaknesses in the 'set' I created through GMATCLUB cause some of the questions were just way too hard. Let me know what comprises of a set.
Yes, the LSAT exams are broken into sections, with roughly 25 questions per section. In the older books, each exam usually has 2 CR ("Logical Reasoning" in LSAT parlance) sections and 1 RC section.

Just do those, and I promise you'll learn a ton about yourself. Yes, plenty of the individual questions are incredibly hard. But that's good practice, and the benchmarks in the study plan will give you a sense of how to think about your LSAT results in the context of the GMAT.

Enjoy!
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GMAT Ninja 13-Week Study Plan (Focus ed.) Week 1: Start Here 12 Dec 2024, 22:35
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GMATNinja bb

After going through week 1 I have some suggestions considering the issues I have faced;

1) While solving questions by tags won't it be better if we exclude Gmat Prep (Focus) such that we'll have a fair chance when attempting official mocks.

2) Also instead of doing questions of all difficulty levels at once won't it be better if we gradually increase the difficulty level on each question type.
GMATNinja
GMAT Ninja’s 13-Week Study Plan
Updated for the new GMAT in 2024

Subscribe via E-mail | Study Plan Chat Group

Week 1 (~15 hours)

Welcome to our “one-size-fits-most”, 13-week GMAT study plan, based on our decades of experience as GMAT tutors. (Yes, decades. Charles is old.)

Here’s what you’re getting yourself into:

  • Bad news: no study plan fits everybody perfectly. We’ve designed this one with a reasonably typical GMAT Club member in mind: a test-taker scoring somewhere in the high 400s or 500s, with aspirations of a 600+ and weaknesses on quant, verbal, and DI. If you’re in a different situation, you’ll need to alter the plan to suit your needs.
  • We expect you to spend approximately 15 hours per week studying for the GMAT: roughly 2 hours per weekday, and maybe a bit more on the weekends.
  • Our goal is to help you beat the odds. The average GMAT student improves by less than 30 points when re-taking the exam, according to GMAC data. So be prepared for some serious work.

We’ll repeat that last part: be ready to work HARD. If you're not dedicated to your GMAT studies, this isn't for you.

Ready to get started? Buckle up.

Watch this video first!


Here’s a video that explains what the study plan is and – more importantly – how best to use it. You’ll save a ton of time in the long run if you watch the video BEFORE getting started.

So please don’t skip this!



- What You’ll Need
Resources you’ll need before starting the study plan:


Here are additional practice resources you’ll eventually want to purchase, but they can wait until later in the process:


If you’ve already exhausted the official guides, you’re in a tough spot for Data Insights, unfortunately – pretty much every official DI question is already included in the study plan. However, you could use older editions for quant and verbal – OG 12 and the 2nd edition of the quant and verbal guides would be decent options, but you’ll want to skip the geometry. If you have questions, feel free to ask in the thread, and we’ll do our best to help.


(A) Where Do You Stand? (0-4 hrs.)+

1. If you have NOT taken the GMAT or any official practice tests: take mba.com test #1

  • The goal: establish a baseline score so that you know how far you are from your target.
  • When you’re finished, please don’t review or redo individual questions, since you might want to retake this exam in a month or two, and it’s best if you don’t remember the questions well.
  • It is, however, OK to take a broad look at your struggles. Did you miss far more questions of one type than another? Are you significantly farther from your score goal on one section than the other?
  • For more, please read the 2nd post in this thread.

2. If you’ve taken an actual GMAT exam, please make sure you understand what your score report is telling you.
  • Check out this article to help you analyze your GMAT score report.

If you’ve never taken the GMAT -- or you don’t have a detailed score report from an attempt at the old GMAT -- no problem. Just skip this task, and everything will be fine.

3. Figure out how many points you’d like to gain on the quant, verbal, and DI sections.

  • If you need to gain FAR more points on one section than the others, use that information to guide your studies. If you’re weaker at verbal, please do less quant and DI homework, and spend more time on “optional” verbal assignments and videos. If you’re weaker in quant or DI, you’ll want to focus on those sections.
  • Keep in mind that all three sections are weighted equally in determining your composite GMAT score. For more details, check out this one-minute video on why 3 = 20 in the GMAT scoring system.

That’s it. If you’ve recently taken official practice (or actual) tests and you understand how far you are from your goals, that’s great – just move on to the homework.
(B) Quant (~3-6 hrs.)+

You’re probably going to hate this.

We have only two goals on quant in Week 1:


1. Ensure that you NEVER make sloppy errors.
2. Check on your arithmetic and algebra foundations.

Here’s why:


1. On an adaptive test like the GMAT, careless errors can DESTROY your score. To learn why, check out this video on GMAT time management (6 mins.) or this one on score-killing errors (59 mins.). These videos were made for the old, pre-2024 version of the GMAT, but the punchlines are still spot-on.
2. If you’re unhappy with your quant (or DI) score, you’re probably making careless errors. And you probably don’t pay enough attention to them.
3. Arithmetic and/or algebra are embedded in nearly every quant (and quant-based DI) question, and if those fundamentals are shaky, you’ll be in trouble.

I know: this isn’t sexy. You probably won’t enjoy this. But if you perform well, the homework will get more interesting next week.

How to approach quant homework


1. Time each set, but don’t rush through. Do every set with test-like intensity, but don’t impose an artificial time limit -- at least not yet.
2. When you’re finished, please do NOT review your errors at all just yet. On the day you do the homework, just input the results into your error log, and walk away. (We’ll say more below about how and when to redo the questions you missed.)

Week 1 quant homework


By design, these practice sets are mostly short, and they should FEEL easy. So you shouldn’t make any mistakes at all, right? Um... right?


1. Watch this video (34 minutes) on how to approach GMAT quant and data sufficiency.
2. (Optional, but recommended) Videos: how to get better at studying for GMAT quant (8 mins) | GMAT arithmetic (49 mins) | GMAT algebra (70+ mins)
3. (Optional, but recommended) Do a set of 10 general systems of linear equations, which you can generate here. If you’re not efficiently getting 100% of them right (in less than 15 minutes per set of 10), keep doing sets of 10 until you can ace them.
4. (Optional, but also highly recommended) If you’re rusty on quadratics factoring, solve this set of 10 basic quadratic equations. If you need more practice, you can generate more worksheets here; select as many "Quadratics --> simple factorable" exercises as you need.
5. A set of 25 sub-555 algebra problem-solving questions, available here. Yes, they’re easy. That’s exactly the point – please don’t make any sloppy mistakes!
6. Official Guide Problem Solving #1-25
7. A set of 25 sub-555 arithmetic PS questions, available here
8. (Very, very optional) Quant section only from the GMAT Club tests or another NON-official source (save the remaining mba.com exams for later!)

What to do AFTER completing a quant homework set

  • 1-3 days after completing the set, redo your errors from scratch. Do your best to “wash your brains” and pretend that you’ve never seen the questions before.
  • If you get most of the questions RIGHT the second time: you’re probably making careless errors, and fixing them needs to be your #1 area of focus. See below for some videos that might help.
  • If you miss a question twice, don’t overreact. Obsessively studying individual questions drains a TON of your study time – if you miss a particular question, you’ll probably never see anything quite like it again. So focus on GENERAL takeaways on how to improve -- don’t spend hours memorizing steps for individual questions.
  • For more on how to interpret your results, see the next post in this thread.

Need help with quant?

If you make careless errors or struggle on the content this week, these resources might help:


1. If you’re making careless errors, this video on how to approach GMAT quant (also in the Week 1 quant homework list) is essential viewing.
2. If you’re struggling with the fundamental content this week, check out this GMAT arithmetic video or this algebra video.
3. GMAT Club Math Book: full pdf | algebra section
4. Heroic quant threads from Bunuel: Ultimate GMAT Quant Megathread | Signature Question Collection | All You Need for Quant
(C) Reading Comprehension (~2 hrs.)+

In Week 1, your goal is to develop a consistent, repeatable approach to GMAT RC questions. We’ll start with a video and article to help you understand how to approach RC passages, and then give you some nice long, hard RC sets so that you can put our advice into practice.

How to approach RC homework


1. Time each set, but don’t rush through. Do every set with test-like intensity, but don’t impose an artificial time limit -- at least not yet.
2. When you’re finished, please do NOT review your errors at all just yet. On the day you do the homework, just input the results into your error log, and walk away.

Week 1 RC homework



1. Watch this video on the fundamentals of RC or read this beginner’s guide to RC, which covers the same principles. (~ 1 hr.)
2. Do a full LSAT RC set (~25 questions, ~ 1 hr). Click here to learn why we assign LSAT sets for GMAT students.
3. (Optional, but recommended) One more LSAT RC set
4. (Optional) Do 3-4 RC passages from older editions of the OGs; you can find some from OG 12 and the Verbal 2nd edition here.

What to do AFTER completing an RC homework set

  • Don’t obsess over the questions you missed. You’re never going to see these passages again, and you don’t want to waste too much time reviewing them.
  • Instead, focus on general patterns. Did you miss a bunch of primary purpose questions? Inference questions? Did you get intimidated by certain types of passages? Did you panic? Run out of energy? Pay special attention to errors that surprised you – did you somehow make a silly mistake?
  • If you missed three or more questions on a particular passage, you might consider redoing the entire passage from scratch. If you do better the second time, ask yourself: what should you have done differently the first time?
  • For more on how to interpret your RC results, check out the 2nd post in this thread.

Need help with RC?

If you struggled with your RC homework sets this week, here are some resources that might help:
(D) Critical Reasoning (~2 hrs.)+

If you read the RC section above, this is going to sound very, very familiar.

In Week 1, your goal is to develop a consistent, repeatable approach to GMAT CR questions. We’ll start with a video and article, and follow that with some HARD practice. Enjoy!

How to approach CR homework


1. Time each set, but don’t rush through. Do every set with test-like intensity, but don’t impose an artificial time limit -- at least not yet.
2. When you’re finished, please do NOT review your errors at all just yet. On the day you do the homework, just input the results into your error log, and walk away.

Week 1 CR homework



1. Watch this video on how to approach CR or read this beginner’s guide to CR, which covers the same ideas. (~ 1 hr.)
2. Do a full LSAT CR set (~25 questions, ~ 1 hr). Click here to learn why we assign LSAT sets for GMAT students.
3. (Optional, but recommended) One additional LSAT CR set (~25 questions, ~ 1 hr)
4. (Very optional) Do 15-20 CR from older editions of the OGs; you can find some from OG 12 and the Verbal 2nd edition here.

What to do AFTER completing a CR homework set

  • 1-3 days after completing the set, redo your errors from scratch. Do your best to “wash your brains” and pretend that you’ve never seen the questions before.
  • If you get most of the questions RIGHT the second time, that’s a sign that your overall CR process isn’t nearly as consistent as it needs to be, and fixing your process needs to be your #1 area of focus. See below for some videos that might help.
  • If you miss a question a second time, don’t overreact: obsessively studying individual questions drains a TON of your study time – and it isn’t terribly valuable on CR. So don’t spend hours memorizing the steps for individual questions.
  • For more on how to interpret your CR results, see the 2nd post in this thread.

Need help with CR?

If you struggled with your CR homework sets this week, here are some resources that might help:
(E) Data Insights (0 hrs.)+

No DI for you this week!

We know: ignoring DI just doesn’t feel quite right. But there’s a very limited supply of worthwhile DI practice questions. So you’re better off saving those DI questions for later, so that you can hit your peak at the right time.

Don’t worry: by the time you finish the 13-week study plan, you’ll have completed every official DI question in the most recent OG and DI Guide, along with a fistful of videos and well over 100 additional, official DI questions from practice tests.

In other words, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to suffer. Er, practice.
(F) Inspiration (optional)+

Read this debrief by a charming Aussie who studied for more than 2,272 hours, or watch this YouTube interview with the same dude.



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GMAT Ninja 13-Week Study Plan (Focus ed.) Week 1: Start Here 12 Dec 2024, 22:48
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I think you have very valid points. I would definitely not go through any gmat prep focus questions to avoid spoiling your score.

In terms of increasing difficulty, I would recommend mixing easy, medium and hard questions in each topic. This gives you the most accurate performance on the section for a particular topic but I would say that I would not attempt any questions until you go through the chapter and the example examples. You definitely need examples to learn the material but I wouldn’t be taking questions about the material you haven’t learned to hear that makes sense. At least that was my approach. Some people learn from questions by stumbling into something they have no clue about and then they started researching it but I took the opposite approach of going through chapter in the math book and then attempted 10 questions of various difficulties to check my performance and skill set.

PS. Charles and I differ on many regards and have different advice. He recommends not timing yourself for a while but I timed myself from day one. I also would pull one of my nose hairs out if I made a mistake but he thinks it’s too harsh (OK, the last thing is a joke).
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GMAT Ninja 13-Week Study Plan (Focus ed.) Week 1: Start Here 13 Dec 2024, 00:25
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bb
I think you have very valid points. I would definitely not go through any gmat prep focus questions to avoid spoiling your score.

In terms of increasing difficulty, I would recommend mixing easy, medium and hard questions in each topic. This gives you the most accurate performance on the section for a particular topic but I would say that I would not attempt any questions until you go through the chapter and the example examples. You definitely need examples to learn the material but I wouldn’t be taking questions about the material you haven’t learned to hear that makes sense. At least that was my approach. Some people learn from questions by stumbling into something they have no clue about and then they started researching it but I took the opposite approach of going through chapter in the math book and then attempted 10 questions of various difficulties to check my performance and skill set.

PS. Charles and I differ on many regards and have different advice. He recommends not timing yourself for a while but I timed myself from day one. I also would pull one of my nose hairs out if I made a mistake but he thinks it’s too harsh (OK, the last thing is a joke).
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If my view and experience count somehow, I agree completely with you. With all respect to GMATNinja, the time must be set from the very beginning to build your stamina immediately.

Similarly, when you go to the gym, there are essentially two groups of people: those who use time under tension to build muscles and resistance and those who work with approaches to take the stuff easily and relax to get used to the weights, executions, and so on.

Those, according to the last research, have almost zero gains in months of training. i.e., when you start to practice, you should work around the clock. always

Time is king.

Regards
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GMAT Ninja 13-Week Study Plan (Focus ed.) Week 1: Start Here 01 Jan 2025, 19:18
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Hi there,
I am planning to start my GMAT prep in the next week using this study plan.

I am yet to buy the GMAT OG. Do I wait for the OG 2025-2026 or still but the year 2024-2025? Thanks so much in advance.
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GMAT Ninja 13-Week Study Plan (Focus ed.) Week 1: Start Here 01 Jan 2025, 19:30
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Usually, there aren't many differences between successive editions of OGs in terms of content, so waiting will not make much difference if you've already got one.
kirtigautam
Hi there,
I am planning to start my GMAT prep in the next week using this study plan.

I am yet to buy the GMAT OG. Do I wait for the OG 2025-2026 or still but the year 2024-2025? Thanks so much in advance.
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GMAT Ninja 13-Week Study Plan (Focus ed.) Week 1: Start Here 01 Jan 2025, 19:43
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sounds good. I appreciate the quick response. :) Thanks!
nishantswaft
Usually, there aren't many differences between successive editions of OGs in terms of content, so waiting will not make much difference if you've already got one.
kirtigautam
Hi there,
I am planning to start my GMAT prep in the next week using this study plan.

I am yet to buy the GMAT OG. Do I wait for the OG 2025-2026 or still but the year 2024-2025? Thanks so much in advance.
Show more
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GMAT Ninja 13-Week Study Plan (Focus ed.) Week 1: Start Here 04 Jan 2025, 12:05
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Hi there,

I am starting the prep today and am looking at the week 1 content. I do not have many brain muscles for quantitative, as I have been working for the last 10 years with little to no academic touch.
My question is: Are there any prerequisites I should do before jumping in on week 1 homework?
Do I first brush up on some algebra and arithmetic basics before taking the MBA test#1? Are you able to share any sources or threads I can follow?
I am afraid that I might score bad even on things I may know but don't recall from my schooling. I understand its only for creating a baseline, still.
Please advise.
Thanks so much!
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GMAT Ninja 13-Week Study Plan (Focus ed.) Week 1: Start Here 06 Jan 2025, 15:41
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hi! the link to the 25 homework questions is just bringing me to a forum with many posts from everyone. Can you edit the link?

Thank you! Love the videos!
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